![]() By 1985 the Le Tour and Super had gotten very close in quality, so I believe that is likely why they stopped the Super. It started as an upgraded Le Tour with aluminum rims, downtube shifters, and only 26.5 lbs. The Super was definitely the most popular of the variations and ran from 1976-1985. It has had many variations during its long run including the Super Le Tour, Le Tour Luxe, and Le Tour Tourist. It must have been a pretty good seller as they go on to offer it through 1992 and brought it back off and on through 2011. ![]() They are still cautious as it’s Schwinn approved rather than just a Schwinn, but it has lots of great Schwinn and Le Tour branding. ![]() This experiment must have gone well because in 1974 they introduce the Schwinn approved Le Tour, an affordable lugged frame bike that’s about 30lbs. Very nice bikes from Japan, but they barely have a reference to Schwinn on them and are not in the catalog. They were very cautious about an import Schwinn because the first two bikes are the World Traveler and World Voyageur in 19. To get into the affordable lightweight market they decided to import from Japan like many of the competition. Chicago was already very busy making their current models, and they didn’t make lugged frame bikes. Paramounts are made in Waterford Wisconsin and that facility certainly doesn’t have the capacity to start making budget road bikes. The Varsity and Continental are close to 40lbs, but they still sell well. They have the Paramount, but it’s a very expensive bike. Lightweight road bikes are becoming very popular, and Schwinn doesn’t have one that’s more affordable. ![]() Now, it’s built up as a ’round town townie, complete with flat pedals, a basket, wide bars, the same Velocity Deep-V rims it had as a fixed gear, and of course, a bell.īikes like this are special, not only because they’re overflowing with beausage and patina but because they represent a progression in cycling that the world of DIY fixed gear bikes embodied.It’s the early 1970s and bicycles are booming. He’s had many bikes since then, which came and went, but he always held onto the Schwinn Le Tour. Now Rawson lives in Santa Fe, where he works at Mellow Velo. He immediately converted it to a fixed gear, stripping the bike of all the necessary components, as per the norm at the time and rode it like that for a few years before eventually buying a road bike, then a gravel bike, and a mountain bike. When the fixed gear craze was sweeping cities all over the world, Rawson bought this Schwinn Le Tour while he was living in Ohio. You know, that first bike that got you hooked on riding bikes and expanded your horizon into the world of cycling. ![]()
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